Review: Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman

Title: Norse Mythology

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company

Date of Publication: February 7th, 2017

Number of Pages: 299

Summary

Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales.

In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to the myths in envisioning the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki—son of a giant—blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Review

There is no better way to begin this review than stating that I love mythology and fairy tales. Indeed, I grew up with all those Greek myths with the 12 gods. Also, Celtic fairy tales are among my favourites. Curiously enough, I had never read anything concerned with norse mythology, although I was aware of Odin, Thor, and Loki. So, you can imagine that I was excited that Neil Gaiman's latest book would be a collection of such myths. Plus, Gaiman's take on these myths would certainly be interesting.

Loki, from an Icelandic manuscript

First of all, I have to comment on the order of the stories. Yes, there are 15 stories in this collection, but they are placed in a -sort of- chronological order. Even though I am a complete beginner to norse mythology, I was able to witness the creation of the world and by the end of the book its end. Of course, in between those two narrations there are plenty of adventures that made all those gods so famous. I was even able to witness the creation of Thor's famous Mjolnir, his warhammer, as well as other artifacts that the gods use.

But being a beginner in norse mythology also has its downside. Not being familiar with those myths, I couldn't actually find out if those retellings were in fact close to the core that they should have. I mean, if a book dealt with greek mythology (I'm looking at you Mythos) I could easily tell if the feel was right. I don't mind for certain things and actions to change in a retelling, but I am always looking for the things that made them distinctive. So, in this case I can't really be the judge of the fidelity of those myths to the original ones. I will only refer to the enjoyment of these adventures, although I do have a hint that the original ones might be slightly darker.

Thor, fishing for Jormangandr

Having made my position clear, I can finally say that these stories are pure fun! We see where the world came form, and we have a bunch of guys that seek knowledge, in Odin's case, adventure, in Thor's case, and even mischief, in Loki's case. There are adventures here, like all of the long gone heroes have to boast about. There is fighting and scheming, hidden plans and causes for celebration, there is hope, and despair, there is form-changing and what-are-you-even-doing-Loki moments, there are gods, frost giants, dwarves, and all of those creature! And there is plenty of mead!

It's funny to think that every Thor's venture came from something that Loki had started. In fact, their whole relationship is better described by Gaiman's own words:

"There were things Thor did when something went wrong. The first thing he did was ask himself if what had happened was Loki’s fault. [...]. So he did the next thing he did when something went wrong, and he went to ask Loki for advice."

BUT let's get things straight: Loki is Odin's blood brother, NOT Thor's (I'm sorry Marvel fans).

One thing that I'm not sure about in Norse Mythology is character development. Apart from the relationship between Thor and Loki, and a little bit of Odin, we don't really get to find out the true colours of each one of the characters. And there are many of them. Nevertheless, it's not a common thing in mythology not to dig into human psychology, and so this could be something forgivable in this context. Although I can't hide that I was a tiny bit disappointed by this. In the end, these are retellings - you can go wild!

All in all, Norse Mythology is a very enjoyable read. These are stories to satisfy every fantasy fan, even the ones that aren't familiar with mythology. They trigger the imagination, like every myth should, so for me the retellings achieved what they ought to. I might not be familiar with the original myths, but now I feel like I have an idea about what norse mythology is about.

Weeckies: How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman

Hello, everybody! I've been preparing this feature for quite some time and today it's finally the day for the first post. In Weeckies, which is a mixture of weekly and quickies, I'll be talking about short stories. For the first week of Weeckies, I have chosen a story by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman. It's called How The Marquis Got His Coat Back and you can find in the short story collection Rogues which was co-edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.

If you're a Neil Gaiman fan, then the title of this short story alone lets you know that we have the return of a character previously known to us. The Marquis refers, of course, to Marquis de Carabas, a character that first appeared in Neverwhere. I was more than happy to read more of his adventures, as Marquis is one of the characters I instantly liked from the novel. Plus, returning to London Below was more than appealing to me. It's a totally different world located below London simultaneously to our own and has its own rules. The paths of London Below are not the paths of London Above: they rely to no little extent on things like belief and opinion and tradition as much as they rely upon the realities of maps.   

But don't worry if you haven't read Neverwhere. This short story takes place after the novel and it just borrows the fact that the Marquis lost his coat (I'm not going to reveal anything more, as I'm urging you to pick up Neverwhere). What is so special about this coat anyway? It's what gives Marquis the confidence to be the person who has become. Someone that reminds a picture of a cat wearing two boots. Indeed, without it Marquis de Carabas seems a little lost. He has at times his usual wit, but going in the dangerous territory of Shepherd's Bush with even an obvious plan? That's unheard! Marquis was always the one that out planned everybody, he could get to places and obtain things that were impossible. In this short story, though, he has an unlikely ally: his brother Peregrine. From the little we encounter him, he picked my interest and I'd gladly find out more about him. 

All in all, this was an excellent short story, about 30 pages long. Despite its length, it managed to suck me into this unique world of London Below. The truth is that it made me want to re-read Neverwhere. It also made me realize that I'd love to read more stories about the adventures of Marquis de Carabas, he is a favourite of mine after all. 

Review: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert

Title: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

Author: Neil Gaiman

Illustrator: Andy Kubert

Publisher: DC Comics

Date of Publication: 2009

Number of Pages: 128

Review

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? This is the question that this two-part comic is trying to answer. The very end of Batman. The title, as Neil Gaiman explains in the foreword, is a pun to Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, which is the conclusion to the mythology of Superman. It feels appropriate and suits perfectly the feel of the story.

The plot is quite simple. Batman is dead and all of the characters, Albert, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, attend his funeral. Each of them offers a different version of Batman's story and death. This way, this comic can work as the final Batman story in any given occasion. But the last few pages left me in awe. Both the art and the conclusion of the story were excellent.

I know that it's a common thing in comics for the heroes to die and then return again with a way or another. This version though felt different. Batman kept trying to fight crime in Gotham and his own demons, but he always ended up getting killed. It was the natural ending we all expected, despite the futility. Batman fell while fighting and it felt right. Besides every mythology needs some closure and we are offered one here.

I won't hide that my admiration for Neil Gaiman's work is growing as I read more of his bibliography. Indeed, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is Gaiman at his best. It would be so easy for this comic to end up just another Batman issue, but what we finally get is what Batman means to the author. He shows his respect to all the previous writers, but he never loses his personal take of the superhero.

But, the art style was also magnificent. It's dark and it's distinctive. I loved every villains' car. There were so many details that added to the final result. And those final pages! You have to see them with your own eyes.  

If you love superheroes, but if you don't as well, if you are familiar with comics, but even if you're not, don't hesitate to read this one! Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is dark and impressive. I can't recommend it enough. This is what happened to the caped crusader.

So, my advice is...

Ride the Batmobile!

Review: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

During the centuries, there have been many prophets, who foresaw the end of time. From all those prophesies the most accurate and nice (with the archaic meaning of precise) were the ones of the witch Agnes Nutter. The irony is that her book never became popular. So, no-one suspected that the end was very near.

Or the ones that were aware of the end of the world were only a few entities and perhaps a human. The descendant of Agnes Nutter, Anathema Device, had in her possession the only copy of Agnes' book. Also, Crowley and Aziraphale, a demon and an angel, knew very well that this was to be expected as a part of a bigger plan. Indeed, Crowley was the one that changed a human baby with the baby Antichrist. But, a little problem occurred: both Crowley and Aziraphale came to like the Earth and the people on it. As a result, they didn't want for it to end and to go into a war between Heaven and Hell. 

This is one of the most interesting stories I've read about the end of the world. To have an angel and a demon be friends for many centuries and unite in order to save Earth was a brilliant idea. I liked the fact that every little action did matter for the outcome of the story. Even when a new character was introduced very close to the end, it was immediately obvious that he would make a difference. Eventually, the story was as crazy as I'd expected it to be.

The characters were a little problematic for me. Crowley and Aziraphale, as well as Anathema Device and Adam Young, were all very likeable and well-developed. But, there were also numerous other characters that appeared in a very small part of the story and thus I couldn't relate or care about them. Those, in fact, were the parts that I had difficulty to get through.  

What I really liked about Good Omens is the idea that nothing is purely evil or purely good. This is the human nature and every single character in this novel proves that. Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good ot fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.  

All in all, Good Omens is one of the funniest books I've read. So funny that I couldn't even keep myself from laughing out loud while reading it in public. If you are familiar with the other works of sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, then you'll have an idea what to expect. I would recommend it to everyone!

So, my advice is...

Find out of the end of the world is part of the ineffable plan! 

Play(list) by the Book: Good Omens

I always enjoy creating Play(list) by the Book. So, when I come across a novel that gives me the chance to compile another playlist I'm very happy. Good Omen: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a book that was perfect for this kind of post. It's actually one of the longest playlists I've created so far, with a lot of classical pieces of music. I hope you'll enjoy it! 

As usual, I included all the music tracks mentioned in the novel. In the cases where just a single artist was named I just picked a song that I liked. You will find that in this list there are a lot of tracks by Queen. This is because Crowley liked them a lot and turned every other piece of music into a random song by this group. Many of the artists were included in previous playlists as well, so I tried to put different songs. The exception in this rule is Born to Run, which was mentioned in the novel.

Other Play(list) by the Book

The Bone Clocks

Battle Royale

Kafka on the Shore

You Don't Say